The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference
The Guardian: White House 'pressuring' intelligence officials to find Iran in violation of nuclear deal
Intelligence analysts, chastened by the experience of the 2003 Iraq war, are said to be resisting the pressure to come up with evidence of Iranian violations.
US intelligence officials are under pressure from the White House to produce a justification to declare Iran in violation of a 2015 nuclear agreement, in an echo of the politicisation of intelligence that led up to the Iraq invasion, according to former officials and analysts.
The collapse of the 2015 deal between Tehran, the US and five other countries – by which Iran has significantly curbed its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief – would trigger a new crisis over nuclear proliferation at a time when the US is in a tense standoff with North Korea.
Intelligence analysts, chastened by the experience of the 2003 Iraq war, launched by the Bush administration on the basis of phoney evidence of weapons of mass destruction, are said to be resisting the pressure to come up with evidence of Iranian violations.
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Update: US intelligence officials under pressure by Trump administration over Iran (Press TV).
WNU Editor: The focus is on President Trump and concerns that he wants to kill the Iran nuclear deal. But the bigger problem is this .... Iran Stresses No Military Inspection Allowed under Nuclear Deal (Al-Manar). More here .... Iran rejects inspection of military sites under nuclear deal (New China). This lack of mechanisms to verify Iran's compliance with any nuclear deal was one of the first issues that were brought up by those who opposed President Obama's Iran nuclear deal .... objections that were over-ruled by the Obama administration. Now .... not surprising .... the Iranians are now saying that such inspections were not part of the deal .... Iran: We will not allow inspections of facilities that do not fall within Nuclear Agreement (Middle East Monitor). As I had said when the nuclear deal was first signed .... how can one verify and certify that someone is complying with a nuclear deal when you cannot inspect the sites where these nuclear facilities may be operating. Trust (but verify) is a cornerstone for any nuclear deal .... so why are the Iranians being exempted?
3 comments:
But you're talking about two different issues even if they're related. One has to do with seeking intelligence to confirm a conclusion already made, which is what Dick Cheney did to justify the war on Iraq. The other one is Iran's commitments related to the nuclear agreement, itself, which requires that Iran allow the IAEA wide access to its nuclear related facilities. What they're saying is that they won't allow access to military facilities that aren't related to the agreement. What the Trump Administration seems to be doing is using the matter of military access to set up a pretext for breaking the agreement. This is not the same as raising real questions about Iran's compliance, which any of the other parties, China, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, the UN and the EU can do, but so far have not.
Carl,
I am aware of the desire from the Trump administration to find evidence that Iran is breaking the agreement, and they want the IAEA to prove their case. The problem is that the nuclear deal did not give the IAEA the authority to investigate these military sites .... a point that critics of the nuclear deal (myself included) were always emphasising was the wrong thing to do when the deal was being negotiated. Why President Obama choose to ignore this important provision of verification is beyond me .... but it has become the poison pill that will kill this deal .... if evidence of non-compliance is found or not.
Trust is the cornerstone for diplomacy and treaties. No trust .... any deal or treaty will just be viewed as a piece of paper. The onus is on Iran to make the first move to build trust by opening their sites to these IAEA inspectors .... but they have chosen not to. It makes me wonder on the reason why .... but I also know that there are many in Iran who also want this deal to fall-apart .... especially since they have confidence that UN sanctions and restrictions will not be imposed. And these Iranian hardliners have cause to be confident .... China, Russia, UK, France, Germany, the UN and the EU, their focus is elsewhere .... specifically business and energy deals. As for Iran's nuclear ambitions .... to them it is something that will just need to be kicked down the road if it becomes a problem.
Iran has noted that it's the 5+1 Agreement, which will stay, with our with out the US.
The US doesn't really matter anymore, as treaties, agreements, commitments, with/from the US are just worthless.
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2017/08/28/trying-to-break-the-iran-agreement/#more-217858
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